Jessica Banti, Shelby County Assistant District Attorney, summarizes evidence in the case against Shelby County businessman Mark Giannini during his rape trial at the Shelby County Criminal Justice Center on Thursday,
Yalonda M. James/The Commercial Appeal

Businessman Mark Giannini is scheduled for trial this week for the rape of a woman in 2014. Giannini is charged with raping three women over a period of 13 years. He has pleaded not guilty on all counts.
Wochit

3:55 p.m.: The prosecution has entered into evidence two sets of the victim's medical records. The state has now rested its case.

2:08 p.m.: Donna Nelson, a special agent forensic scientist with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, is the next witness. She tested a kit from the victim in the case. Nelson had samples of swabs from the woman's body. She found the presence of semen, but was not able to determine who the semen belonged to. Giannini could not be excluded from the sample, she said.

12:30 p.m.: The state has three to five more witnesses to call. The trial is breaking for recess for lunch until 1:45 p.m.

12:00 p.m.: The injuries Gable saw on the victim were consistent with what the victim said happened, Gable testified.

11:45 a.m.: On June 20, 2014, Gable was called to give an examination. The victim in the case told her she works at Waffle House on Sycamore View. Another customer told her a man named Mark had a job for her. She was told he was a millionaire, she said. He picked her up in a Jaguar and at the rural area of his house he told her no one can hear or see you here, she said. Gable said the woman described being raped by the man and that he said this was her job interview. She said she woke up at the hospital with people trying to insert IVs.

The exam was done 19 to 22 hours after the time she said she was raped, Gable said.

Gable did a rape kit and collected swabs from her body.

Now Gable is talking about the parts of the woman's body where she did and did not find injuries.

For most adult women, rape does not result in injury, Gable said. She said there is a misconception that rape causes trauma and injury to the genital area.

11:40 a.m.: The next witness is Kristine Gable from the Rape Crisis Center.

10:40: a.m.: The housekeeper is testifying she took Giannini to get a new phone. He also asked her to research countries that don't extradite people to the United States, she said.

Giannini also asked her to go to Waffle House and sit back and listen to what the woman was saying, the housekeeper testified. (The victim in the case worked at Waffle House and the housekeeper had previously driven her to the motel where she was staying).

10:15 a.m.: The housekeeper testified she saw Giannini destroy his cell phone. She said he threw it on the ground, took a rock and started smashing it.

"Get rid of this," he told her, she testified.

She said this occurred while law enforcement was outside the home.

9:56 a.m.: The next witness is a former housekeeper of Giannini. She is testifying about when Giannini called her to help a girl who needed a ride home. He said she was really drunk and that she kept going in and out of his pool house.

"He thought she was guzzling liquor in there," she said.

The housekeeper saw a woman in a lawn chair. He told the woman, "wake up baby I got you a ride, wake up."

"She was out of it," the housekeeper told prosecutor Jessica Banti.

Giannini's demeanor was rushed and frantic, the housekeeper said.

Once in the housekeeper's car, the woman was in and out of sleeping or crying. The woman smelled like vodka, the housekeeper said.

The housekeeper helped her up to her motel room.

9:50 a.m.: Regarding the DeSoto County Sheriff's badge,DeSoto County sheriff’s spokesman Dick Hackett said in 2014 that Giannini didn’t get the badge and ID from Sheriff Bill Rasco.

“ ... It was the practice of previous administrations to give badges to citizens. When Sheriff Rasco came in, it was clear that it was a substantial liability on the county and that practice was discontinued,” Hackett said.

9:20 a.m.: The state's first witness is retired Lt. Kevin Helms of the Shelby County Sheriff's Office. Prosecutor Neal Oldham is asking him about going to Giannini's house as part of the law enforcement investigation of Giannini. Helms said that after he arrived, a female said over a box at the gate that Giannini wasn't there.

A detective knew how to dismantle the gate and law enforcement proceeded down the lengthy driveway. Officers checked a pool house and Helms walked to a tree area. It was warm that morning and dew was on the ground. He could see tracks as if someone had run or left the area quickly.

About 40 minutes later, Giannini walked up the driveway and said he had been on a walk.

Helms showed photos of scratches on Giannini's body that Helms described as fairly fresh. Giannini also appeared to be sweaty.

He had a passport that he removed from his shorts pocket. Another item in his shorts was a DeSoto County Sheriff's badge in his name with an expiration date in 2007.

9:17 a.m.: The second day of the trial of businessman Mark Giannini is scheduled to begin this morning. The defendant entered the courtroom and smiled in the direction of several members of his family and friends. The victim in the case is seated in the front row today after testifying for hours yesterday, at times in tears, that the businessman raped her at his Eads mansion in 2014.